


Coloring the World

by Wolfie_Dragon



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Coloring, Cute, Depression, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Modern AU, Oneshot, hiccstrid comfort, mentions of severe car crash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 19:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9339824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfie_Dragon/pseuds/Wolfie_Dragon
Summary: Modern AU oneshot. After a car crash takes his leg, Hiccup starts sinking into depression, and he pushes everybody away. The world looks much grayer when you're forced to walk on a metal leg, after all. But thankfully a certain friend with bright yellow hair is determined to bring the colors back into Hiccup's world.





	

"Hiccup, it's time for dinner!"

The boy in question sighed as he put his pencil down. The drawing he was working on wasn't turning out well. He tried to draw his black cat, Toothless, but he just couldn't manage to get the paws right. Maybe it was the fact that whenever he looked up from the sketchbook to observe the sleeping cat on the other end of his bed he couldn't help but notice _it_. The unnatural shape of his legs under the blanket. Or rather, the lack of shape. He still felt a jolt of pain whenever he saw his one leg just… end right below the knee. But the pain didn't make him more alert or awake. On the contrary, it tired him.

He just felt so weary, even though he spent most of his time in bed these days. Sure, it hadn't been as bad as in the hospital, when he was still on all kinds of medications and painkillers that made even thinking hard. But he still felt so… out of it. He tried so hard to rediscover that joy in drawing he used to have, before the accident. But he couldn't find it.

Normally he'd draw Toothless in bright colors, turning him into a yellow lion or a red fox. But now he couldn't bring himself to use anything other than the black pencil. It felt like the color had drained from the world a little, like he was wearing sunglasses that made all the colors less bright and pronounced, and turned everything into shades of brown and gray. What was the point of bright and fun colors anyway? They are just childish tricks to let people pretend the world isn't as dark as it really is.

"Hiccup, did you hear me? Dinner is ready!" his father called again, and Hiccup couldn't bring himself to really care. He wasn't in the mood for bright red tomatoes, green vegetables, or yellow chips.

"I'm not hungry!" he called back, hoping his dad could hear it downstairs. Instead of a voice, the sound of the stairs creaking under his father's weight reached his ears. Hiccup rolled his eyes again, feeling way too tired for this. Toothless woke up with a loud yell, clearly upset by the noise interrupting his nap, and jumped off the bed as Stoick pushed open Hiccup's door and entered.

"Is something wrong? Does… Do you have a phantom pain or something? Do you need help getting down the stairs?" Stoick asked with a quick glance at the empty spot on the bed. Hiccup just shook his head, wishing his dad wouldn't be so pushy all the time. _"Cheer up, Hiccup! You can still do this, you can still do that, it'll be okay!"_ his dad would tell him that over and over, and Hiccup couldn't bring himself to tell him that it wouldn't be okay.

His leg was gone.

He had to walk on a prosthetic leg.

That would never be okay. And his dad just couldn't understand that.

"No, I'm just not hungry," Hiccup said, hoping his dad would leave now.

Of course, it could never be that simple.

"Hiccup, you need to eat. And you need to walk around on your prosthetic more. Two times twenty minutes every day, the doctor said. And I don't think you left your bed other than to go the bathroom today yet," Stoick said as he sat down on the bed, and Hiccup cringed when he noticed his dad was sitting right in the spot where his left foot should be. It felt so strange, he could almost feel the weight on the foot that wasn't there.

"I'll walk later. I just don't feel like it now," he muttered, and a second later his phone bleeped. Thankful for the interruption, Hiccup grabbed the device to make it clear he wasn't interested in the conversation. Another message from Astrid. Before he could unlock the phone, his father started talking again.

"You said the same thing yesterday. And the day before. And the day before that."

Hiccup felt even more tired, and he didn't bother to hide it.

"I'm fine, I can walk on it without falling. I completed my physical therapy, remember? I'm healed," he said as he put the phone down again, not feeling very healed. His dad just sighed as he rubbed his brown beard. Hadn't his beard been red before? The color seemed darker somehow.

"Maybe physically. But Hiccup… I'm worried. Look, I know you need time to… process what happened, and… come to terms with all this, but… you seem so… not you. Where's my cheerful little boy?" Stoick asked, and Hiccup could hear the pain in his voice. The colors around him seemed a little brighter for a moment when he felt a flash of guilt, but then the weariness and apathy came back and the world turned gray and brown again.

"I'm okay, dad. I'm just not hungry," he said, trying to make it clear that he wanted this conversation to end.

Stoick sighed deeply, before standing up again. "Look, I'll bring you a plate here, in case you change your mind. You need your strength. You're going back to school tomorrow, remember?" he asked, and Hiccup nodded, not in the mood to argue. He really didn't feel like going, but he knew his father's mind was made up. He had sat at home for long enough, according to him and the doctors.

"Alright then, I'll be right back with some food. It's probably cold by now, so I'll quickly heat it in the microwave," Stoick said, but Hiccup wasn't really listening anymore, not interested in the dull brown shape leaving his room.

Hiccup grabbed his sketchbook and tried to finish the drawing when Toothless lay down on the bed again. It was no use, the page just became more and more smudged and ugly. At some point his dad came in and put a plate filled with pasta on his desk, but Hiccup didn't even acknowledge the food. About a minute after his dad went downstairs again, his phone bleeped. When he unlocked it he saw another message from Astrid, underneath the many others he had read earlier.

_16:25: You're coming back to school tomorrow, right?_

_16:27: If so, how are you going to school?_

_16:28: I suppose your dad will probably bring you, though I figured you might not be comfortable with car rides yet._

_16:28: And I can imagine you're probably eager to get away from your dad. So are you taking the train?_

_16:28: If you are, maybe we can meet up at the station and take the train together? Like before?_

_16:30: There's a new ice cream shop near the station. If you get up early we could get some before school :)_

_16:42: Come on, you love ice cream! Right?_

_16:55: Just let me know if you're taking the train tomorrow._

_17:14: You there?_

_17:21: You could at least send a simple yes or no :-(_

_17:22: I know you're not too busy to look at your phone!_

_17:26: Or are you in physical therapy or something? If so, I'm sorry._

_17:27: Can you call me when you see this?_

_ Unread messages: _

_17:49: Dang it Hiccup. You could at least let me know if you're alive._

_17:54: Sorry, I know you're going through a lot of rough stuff. I wanna help, you know? Just call me, please?_

Hiccup looked at the messages, trying to remember if the interface had always been this dark. He seemed to remember it being a bright shade of green, instead of this muddy yellow-brown. The buttons underneath the chat seemed grayer too. The call button had been bright red, right? Then why was it this ugly shade of dark orange now?

His thumb hovered over the call button for a long time. A small part of him wanted nothing more than to call Astrid, and to hear her voice. That pretty voice that used to fill his stomach with butterflies. Odd that that wasn't happening anymore. He used to think she was so beautiful, with her shining hair and cool clothes. But when she came to visit him in the hospital she wasn't as bright and shiny as he remembered. Her hair seemed more gray than blond. He just didn't see the point in getting excited over seeing his crush. It wasn't like she was ever going to feel the same way about him anyway.

The button seemed to become darker and darker, the red turning into gray, until he couldn't take it anymore. He pressed the tiny power button on the side of the phone, and the screen became black again. Astrid would be angry. And disappointed. And rightly so. She was trying to help, and he shut her out. But at that moment, the world was too gray for him to care.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Astrid tried very hard not to feel hurt when she noticed Hiccup was avoiding her. She knew that Hiccup needed space and time, and that things wouldn't go back to normal the first day he was back at school.

But it still hurt. It hurt when he refused to answer her messages, even though she could see he had read them. It hurt when he didn't show up at the station. It hurt when he sat at the back of the room in class instead of next to her.

She had hoped to talk to him during lunch, but as she looked around the cafeteria he was nowhere to be found.

"Hey Fish, do you know where Hiccup is?" she asked the nerdy boy next to her. He had been in biology with Hiccup last period, while she had English. So hopefully Fishlegs had seen her friend.

"Uhm, I think he went outside. He practically ran out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang. Well, he can't really run on his new leg, but you know what I mean," Fishlegs said, and Astrid looked through the large window near her. It was raining pretty hard, and she couldn't see anyone willing to brave the foul weather.

But Hiccup might be stupid enough to try.

"Thanks, Fish," she said as she ran out the cafeteria and to the front door, briefly stopping to grab her coat and put it on.

The janitor looked at her oddly when she ran out into the pouring rain, but she didn't pay him any mind. She was focused on finding her friend.

Thankfully she found him pretty quickly. He was sitting against the wall of the bicycle shed, his legs folded against his chest.

"There you are! What are you doing outside?" she asked when she was within earshot, but Hiccup barely reacted to her words.

"You should go inside. You'll get sick, you don't even have your coat on!" Astrid said as she reached his side and put her hand on his shoulder. Hiccup flinched, leaning away from her.

"I'll be fine," he muttered, and she sighed before sitting down next to him, shivering when her butt touched the wet tiles.

"No you won't be. You'll get a cold, or pneumonia or something. And your body has enough to deal with as it is, it doesn't need an infection as well," she said, trying her best to not be affected by the negative energy emanating from Hiccup. He looked so sad and in pain, even though she knew he would never admit it.

"I'm fine, it's healed. The leg is fine," he said, his face turned away from her.

"You're not fine. If you were fine you would be sitting with me and the others in the warm cafeteria," she stated, and Hiccup dropped his head. His shirt and pants were soaking wet, and he was shivering slightly.

"Come on, Hiccup, let's just go inside. You'll feel better when you're warm and dry. I'm sure the janitor has some spare clothes, and else you can borrow one of my sports shirts," she tried, worried by this self-destructive behavior. Honestly he was starting to piss her off. Why did he have to be so stupid and negative?

Hiccup had always been one of the most cheerful and optimistic people she knew. He rarely let anything bother him, laughing off the insults and bullying. But this Hiccup… He looked so destroyed. His eyes, normally so bright and brimming with life, looked dull and dead. She supposed an experience like he had gone through was bound to leave scars, both physical and mental, but she hadn't expected this.

Even though she'd never admit it, he was scaring her right now. If he was willing to sit in the pouring rain for no reason, then what else would he do?

"No, I'd rather stay here. I… I don't want to see the others," he said, and she sighed, before taking off her jacket.

"Well, if you're just going to be stupid, then I'm gonna have to keep you dry. And you can't sit here forever, you know. Lunch is over in ten minutes," Astrid said as she put her coat over his shoulders, frustration mounting when he didn't move to put the thick garment on.

"I don't want to go to class. Everyone stares at me, or they make jokes about… it. Or they show off my… leg to the class," he muttered, and she leaned in a little closer, putting her arm over his wet shoulders.

"Who did that? I'm pretty sure you can refuse that, you know!" she said, and he just shook his head.

"Gobber used me to teach the engineering class about prosthetics. And Mr. Mildew asked in biology if I had my X-rays with me, because he wanted to show them. He said he wanted to use the opportunity to teach about bones and limbs, and amputations," he said, and she took deep breaths, angry at their teachers. Didn't they realize that Hiccup might not have wanted that? Hiccup has always been a bit shy, and he couldn't stand it when his flaws were pointed out in public.

"I'm sorry that happened. Do you want me to talk to them?" she asked, not surprised when Hiccup shook his head.

"Look, that sucked. But your next class is art, right? You like art, maybe you can draw or paint something nice! Or look at something more colorful than this ugly rain!" she said, hoping he'd at least go to art. She didn't think he realized it himself, but art always cheered him up when he was brooding over something.

"I can't make art. And… And nothing is colorful anymore. It's all gray. The world is gray and dark and ugly. I just… I just want to go home," he said, and she didn't really know what to say. Hiccup had never said anything as dark as that, and he had never refused to go to art. Sure, sometimes he wanted to ditch English, or history, saying they were useless or boring classes, but he had always found a purpose in art. He expressed himself in bright and colorful drawings and paintings, and she knew he needed that now more than ever.

But… maybe today was a little too soon for it. She couldn't really blame him for not wanting to face his classmates or teachers yet, especially after how his morning went.

"Okay Hiccup, here's what we're going to do. You're not going to be able to do anything at school today, so I think you should just go home. Then at least you'll be out of this rain. I'll tell Mr. Bucket that you're ill, and tomorrow things should be better. But I want you to send me a message as soon as you get home, okay? Just let me know you made it home safely. And tonight we can talk more about what we're going to do tomorrow, okay?" she asked, hoping he'd at least listen to her.

"Okay," he eventually whispered, and she did her best to smile.

"Come on, let's get your coat. You've got enough money for the train, right?" she asked as she stood up and pulled him up with her. He nodded, and they walked together inside the school in silence. Astrid couldn't help but notice that it almost felt like even though they were out of the rain now, Hiccup still seemed to carry around an invisible rain cloud of pessimism and depression. It worried her. He needed help, she saw that now, even if he refused to admit it. So she silently promised that the next time he wouldn't return her messages she'd drag him out of his dark room and back into the light.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hiccup never let her know if he made it home. She nervously checked her phone all through her afternoon classes, but no message appeared. Her frustration increased the longer she waited. 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, three hours. The train trip shouldn't have taken him longer than 15 minutes, and even with his prosthetic leg the walk from the station to his house couldn't have taken him more than 10. And she doubted something had actually happened to him. He was probably just refusing to send messages again. After all, she hadn't heard from him at all in the last three weeks, no matter how much she asked.

She thought the text messages were a good way to keep in touch. Not too pushy, and it would allow him to reply only when he was ready. He had always been nervous about phone calls. But now she was wondering if she shouldn't push a little harder. After all, if she hadn't found him during lunch he'd probably still be out there in the pouring rain feeling sorry for himself.

She supposed that was a little harsh, but this behavior wasn't acceptable. She was only trying to help, but he just refused to cooperate. If he wasn't going to look out for himself, then she'd do it. With or without his explicit consent.

So she ran out of the classroom the moment the bell rang. Finally her classes for the day were over and she could focus completely on getting Hiccup out of his dark world. The rain had thankfully reduced to a light drizzle, so she didn't worry about her phone breaking as she walked to the station.

She scrolled through her contact list until she found the silly picture of Hiccup with Toothless sleeping on his head, sighing briefly at the sight of a much happier Hiccup, before pressing Call.

The phone rang once… twice… thrice… four times… five times…

 _"Uh, this is Hiccup's voicemail. I guess if you're hearing this-" Mrow! "Toothless! Be quiet for a moment! Anyway, I'm not here, so leave a message!"_ suddenly hit her ear, and she tried very hard to stay calm as she waited for the beep.

"Hiccup, it's Astrid. You said you'd send me a message when you came home. But I didn't get anything. Just… stop pushing me away, okay? I get that you're hurting, but facing it alone isn't gonna help anyone. So… call me, okay?" she managed to say, before closing her phone again. She seriously doubted he would call her, but it was worth a try.

A few minutes later she reached the large train station, and she cursed out loud when she saw her train was delayed because of the storm. She'd be stuck at the station for another 25 minutes, and she really wasn't in the mood for that. She wanted to find Hiccup and kick his butt for shutting her out, not sit here being useless.

But Astrid knew she couldn't change the weather, so she decided to check out the nearby book store. Maybe they had some comics she could use to cheer Hiccup up.

But as she browsed the comic book section she couldn't find anything. Why did everything have to be superheroes these days? She doubted seeing such powerful characters would cheer Hiccup up when he still had trouble walking. Couldn't they just write a superhero with a prosthetic leg or something? They didn't even have a Garfield book. The fat cat would have made Hiccup laugh, she was sure of it. They did have an old Peanuts book, but she doubted that the repeated failures of Charlie Brown would inspire her friend.

She turned away from the comics and shut her eyes for a moment, trying to stay calm. She could do this. She'd just have to find something else. Maybe there's a nice book here about disabled kids or something. Or something about dragons. He liked dragons. So, taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again and looked around the different books in the store. Boring biographies, stupid books about economics and brain-training guides seemed to make up most of the store's content.

Just when Astrid was about to give up she noticed a shelf in the kids section. Normally she'd never have considered something so childish, but… Hiccup had said the world was gray. Maybe with this they could make it a little brighter again.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_"…Just… stop pushing me away, okay? I get that you're hurting, but facing it alone isn't gonna help anyone. So… call me, okay?"_

Hiccup finished listening to the voicemail for the tenth time that hour, and each time the urge to just press that call button and let Astrid help him became greater. He knew she was right. That was the stupid thing, he knew he was just being obtuse by not messaging her.

But at the same time, trying to press that call button seemed like the hardest thing he had ever done. He knew it was the right thing to do, but at the same time voices in his head kept telling him he didn't deserve Astrid's help, that she didn't really care about him, that he was deluding himself in thinking she'd ever be friends with a one-legged freak like him, that she'd laugh the moment she'd hear his voice.

He knew those things weren't true, but at the same time he didn't. It was hard to believe Astrid could be sincere when the world was so gray. Sure, she had dragged him out of the rain and let him borrow her jacket, but at the same time she wanted him to go back to class and face all the ridicule. And the stares. Everyone stared at him and his leg. And he knew what they were thinking, what they were saying when they thought he couldn't hear him.

Freak.

He was a freak with an unnatural metal leg, and he didn't want anyone to see that. Not even Astrid. Especially not Astrid. He had seen her glance down at his leg and frown. Surely she thought it was ugly or weird.

So he just wanted to hide under the blankets and never let anyone see him ever again. In fact, that was what he was doing right now. Toothless was climbing his blanket, prodding him through the thick cloth, but Hiccup refused to pay attention to the cat. He was perfectly fine in his dark cave, even though his dad would probably try to get him out again when he came home, and Astrid would be furious tomorrow because he never did call her.

Ding dong!

Hiccup jumped when the doorbell rang. Who could that be? Probably just some salesman he could ignore.

Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong!

Jeez, that's one persistent salesman. Still, no reason to leave his sanctuary.

"Hiccup! I know you're in there!"

Oh, no. It was Astrid. He really didn't want to see Astrid. Or let Astrid see him, for that matter. He was a wreck. And she shouldn't have to look at his leg.

"Hiccup, open up! I'm not going to let you sit in there alone!" she shouted through the door, and Hiccup slowly peeked out from under the blankets. A large part of him did want to let her in, to let her comfort him. Maybe if she was with him the world wouldn't be so dark and gray. She had brightened the rainy school grounds, after all.

Getting out of the bed took most of his strength, and he had to take a breather before putting his leg on. But somehow he couldn't resist her voice anymore. He had never been able to say no to her, and today was no different, leg or no leg.

"I swear to Thor, Hiccup, if you don't open this door within one minute I'm kicking it in. I'm not gonna wait in this rain for hours until you finally decide to get off your ass and let your friends help you. If you want to give yourself pneumonia that's fine, but don't force me to get it as well!" she shouted, and he didn't doubt she was serious. She would totally kick his door in if she was angry enough. She had done that when he had accidentally broken her hockey stick when they were younger.

He had been hiding under the blankets that time as well.

But he couldn't hide anymore. Astrid was going to drag him out anyway, so he might as well limit the damage she was going to do.

Plus, he did kind of want to see Astrid, even if he didn't feel like he deserved it. So he put his prosthetic on with trembling hands, before standing up and testing his balance.

When he was fairly confident he wouldn't fall he walked down the stairs, trying not to pay attention to the gray wallpaper that had been blue just a few weeks ago. Weird how the prospect of seeing Astrid didn't brighten his day anymore. Even now the tingle in his stomach came from fear, instead of excitement.

"Hiccup, I'm gonna count down. You have five seconds to open this door! Five! Four! Three-" Astrid stopped when he opened the door a crack, and for a moment he saw a surprised expression on her face, like she hadn't expected him to actually open the door. But a second later her face became angry again. He stumbled back, feeling like a cornered animal, when she grabbed the door and pulled it open completely.

"Finally! Gods dang it, did you really have to take so long? And why didn't you let me know you made it home?! I mean, I was worrying all afternoon! Is it that hard to-" Astrid ranted as she put her bag down and wrung out her wet hair, suddenly stopping when she looked back up at him trembling against the back wall. Her face softened a bit, and her shoulders fell.

There was a long silence, and Hiccup desperately tried to think of something to say. Normally he'd probably make a sarcastic remark or bad joke, but lately he couldn't think of funny things anymore. There was nothing funny about how Astrid's red jacket looked brown to his eyes, or her wet blond hair was an ugly shade of gray.

"Are you still wearing your wet clothes?" she suddenly asked, and he looked down to see he was indeed still wearing the same soaked shirt and pants. He shrugged, figuring that he just felt so cold all the time lately he hadn't noticed.

"Why are you here? I'm fine," he eventually said, part of him hoping she'd believe him, the other part hoping she would not.

"No you're not. You're miserable and alone and depressed. And I'm here to help," Astrid said as she opened her bag and reached inside.

"You said the world was dark and gray. So… So I bought this. It's a coloring book. Let's try and make the world a little colorful again, okay?" she said as she pulled a book out of her bag and showed him.

The Book of Dragons, the cover said, underneath a picture of a large red and blue dragon with thick black outlines. Astrid opened the book, showing black lines surrounding white fields in the shapes of various dragons, just waiting to be filled in. Then she took a pack of coloring pencils from her bag and reached them out to him.

All he had to do was accept.

The hallway was silent as he stared at the coloring book and pack of pencils. The more he looked, the more it seemed like the pencils were glowing, spreading bright light and colors through the room. The red, yellow, blue, green, and countless other colors of the pencils were brighter than anything he remembered seeing for a long time. And even though a voice in his head was screaming for him to run away to his room and lock the door, that voice became softer and softer.

Suddenly his final resolve crumbled. He produced a sound like something between a laugh and a sob, before lifting his arm and grasping the pack of pencils. Astrid started smiling brightly, and he felt a smile coming to his face as well when he briefly touched her warm hand.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. Maybe both. But he couldn't cry in front of Astrid. He wouldn't. He promised himself he wouldn't cry because of all this.

As he tried to stop the tears from appearing, Astrid suddenly spoke up again.

"Good. But first you should put on some dry clothes. How about you do that, and I'll make some hot chocolate, okay? Then we can color together," she said, and he nodded, unable to speak. Did she know? Did she understand he needed to let some tears fall without her seeing?

Did it matter? She had given him a way out, a way forward.

"Thanks, Astrid," he managed to say, before turning around and running up the stairs as quickly as he could, nearly stumbling when he forgot his metal leg for the first time since the accident.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why are you making that one all black?! He looks so moody!" Astrid exclaimed as she looked at Hiccup's page. He was smiling as he concentrated on filling in the dragon with his black pencil, but she was still worried he might slip back into that dark depression he had been in earlier.

"Because it's called the 'Night Fury'! Look, it says so, here at the top of the page! And it reminds me of Toothless! So it should be black!" he said as he gestured between the picture and the sleeping cat next to him.

They were lying on the carpeted floor of Hiccup's living room, ripped out pages and cups of hot cocoa surrounding them. Toothless briefly opened his eyes when his name was mentioned, but he quickly huffed and went back to sleep when he realized he wasn't getting a treat.

"Well, mine is called a 'Deadly Nadder', but I'm not making it all gloomy and black! Look, it still looks threatening, even if I made it bright yellow and blue," Astrid said as she slid her drawing over to him, and he frowned.

"I still think black suits this one," he muttered, sounding sad, and she felt a little guilty.

"Okay, black is fine. Just don't make it completely black! How about… You didn't fill in his tail yet. Why not give him a colored tail?" she offered, hoping she hadn't insulted him too badly.

Hiccup looked at the Night Fury in silence for a long time, until he suddenly grabbed a red pencil and made half the tail fin bright red.

"Look, I gave it a prosthetic fin! Now it's just like me!" he said happily, and Astrid felt her jaw drop when she realized he had made a joke about his leg. Not wanting to ruin the moment, she quickly smiled before punching him lightly.

"Dork. Now, how about this one? It's called a 'Monstrous Nightmare'. Jeez, these dragons don't have very cheerful names, do they? What color should it have?" she asked as she grabbed the next page and turned it towards him.

"Hmm, it looks angry. I think it should be red. Bright red!" Hiccup said as he took the red pencil and started coloring the dragon.

He looked happy, but Astrid was still worried. She had to know.

"Hiccup? Is the world still… gray?" she softly asked, and his hand stopped coloring for a moment.

"No. No, it's not. It's… It's not quite… as it was, but… I feel better. Lighter. Brighter. Thanks, Astrid. For… not giving up on me," he stuttered, clearly flustered, and she turned her head away, not wanting to embarrass him.

Glad that her gift worked, she grabbed the orange pencil and started helping Hiccup color the Nightmare. She pretended she didn't see Hiccup blush bright red every time her hand grazed his, and she knew he was on the road to recovery again. If he was responding to his crush on her he thought she didn't know about, he couldn't be too sad.

And maybe, if he'd keep this up and turn back into the old cheerful Hiccup again, she might confess that she liked him a lot too. Maybe he'd even get a kiss. That would brighten his day. And hers, even if she didn't want to admit it. But for now, she was happy to just lie on his floor and laugh with him as they made the world a little more colorful.


End file.
